well I would definitely ignore those mac pc commercials..
Ive been using both for at least 10years at work. We had to have a mac since for years that was the computer to use for graphic design files..
And I know that mac users think its so much more elegant than pcs in design etc...Ill grant that..
but weve had problems with people uploading mac files to our ftp site since, the resource fork info is discarded in the process (not a problem with pc files) And after paying $2500+ (Canadian) a couple of years ago for the latest dual-core processor mac I see that it crashes constantly (daily)..   And weve re-formatted the drive and reinstalled everything several times..
Now you can get a pretty good pc for less than $600 Canadian..
In fact another option to look into is one of those $200 Laptops (that one intended for 3rd world kids) Apparently soon you can get one for $400 and a second one goes to the kids.. (It has supposedly the best screen of any laptop- low power and easily readable in the sun) and the antenna for wifi is twice as powerful as standard laptops)
and can be handcranked..